Chapter 94 – How Rude — I Am Simply Proper, Elegant, and Noble!

Letaria and Arden had moved to Syn-Fibra's management dock. Milea was already there, having received the communication in advance, and beside her stood Grain, captain of the vigilante corps.

"I heard the broad strokes -- are you all right?"

Milea leaned in to look at Letaria's face as she climbed down from the cockpit, her concern entirely unguarded.

"Yes, well... I am quite fine, as you can see."

The words were there, but the usual self-assured imperious register was not. Something in her was somewhere else. Milea, unsure of what to say to that Letaria, glanced toward Grain with a look that asked for help.

"Look, saying 'it's nothing, don't worry about it' isn't going to make you not worry -- that's just how it is. Betrayal and that sort of thing... it's not rare in this line of work."

Grain said it plainly, the same way Zein had -- the dry shape of things as they were.

"I was simply caught off guard. And -- I suppose you may take that as me acknowledging that you are both concerned for me, if you like."

Letaria made herself perform brightness. She wasn't unaffected. But this was a harsh world, and she understood that. When she thought about it, even the world she had come from had been full of betrayals and schemes -- people who smiled at you and then drove the knife in. She had known that world well.

(Yes. I simply have to accept that this world is the same kind of place.)

She said it firmly to herself, inside.

Milea took that as a sign that Letaria's footing was steadier, and shifted her gaze to the damaged Arden.

"Even so -- you, taking hits. Though -- looking at the battle log, that point-blank total-coverage sweep was physically impossible to evade. I'll say that plainly."

"That machine was using an unusual and rather nasty set of weapons."

Grain studied the countless deep impact craters gouged into Arden's limbs with a long, appraising look.

"...After Milea worked so carefully to rebuild Arden, I have gone and damaged it so badly on the very first outing..."

Letaria let out a small sigh. Milea heard it and caught herself. The weight Letaria was carrying wasn't only the shock of Twoin's betrayal -- part of it was guilt, the honest guilt of having brought back her carefully refitted machine already scarred.

"Letaria. It's all right. Don't make that face."

The gentle tone made Letaria tilt her head with a small "hm?"

"The damage is only to the outer panels -- the Rude parts. That full-coverage sweep, and the inner frame and generator are completely unharmed. Same situation as the Electra Duro."

"Of course -- Hardilite. Not a scratch on the Letariem frame underneath."

Grain crossed his arms and nodded with genuine admiration.

"Oh -- it is!? Oh, thank goodness...! Arden, you really have become rather resilient!"

The knowledge that her partner was safe brought the light back into Letaria's eyes immediately, in full. Milea and Grain looked at each other and shared a fond, helpless smile.

◆

Somewhat reassured, the three of them moved to Milea's lab. Down in the dock below, the damaged outer panels were being stripped from Arden's limbs and a detailed scan of the frame had begun.

Letaria had changed out of her pilot suit and back into her usual clothes. She was now working through a warm cup of herbal tea and a cookie Sora had left behind, biting into it with a thoughtful crunch.

When the room had settled, Grain opened the main subject quietly.

"Twoin. During the Restful incident, we had his contact on file -- brought in as a capable freelancer for the operation, same category as Zein and the others. But--"

He turned his terminal screen toward Milea and Letaria.

"He has vanished completely. His record in Seldia's freelancer registry has been wiped clean."

"His registered affiliation listed another autonomous zone within the Wistrum Federal States. But how much of that was ever true is anyone's guess."

Milea glanced at her own terminal.

"The analysis of the box Letaria brought back came through. Just a signal emitter, straightforward enough -- but it also had a jamming function built in. And there were defense systems found in the mission sector that had been installed after the original placement."

She took a sip of her coffee.

"On top of that, there was apparently a report filed prompting the Bureau to send a survey team to that sector... When you put it together..."

Letaria set down her cup and asked.

"...What does it mean? Who is he?"

"I'm about ninety percent certain. He was an intelligence operative -- from another autonomous zone, or possibly another nation entirely -- sent to investigate you. Your true nature. The mission itself was probably a stage he arranged himself to create the right conditions."

"What!?"

Letaria made a sound that was almost a squeak, fumbling to catch the cookie she nearly dropped.

"That's why it's not unusual in this line of work. Your combat record has been extraordinary -- but externally, the available information paints Arden as nothing more than a somewhat-customized old-generation general model. And honestly, apart from the Arden System, that's not far wrong in terms of what can be observed."

"If it's pure technical intelligence they're after -- the data on our next-generation general model Rasta, or head office's Riese, would be far more valuable to another nation than Arden. Worth considerably more effort to steal."

Milea added to that.

"The prototype Photon Rifle -- the Arcian -- too. Industrial espionage targeting Syn-Fibra, a major company? That's not exactly unusual."

But, Grain said -- and his expression sharpened.

"From the comm logs, his objective was clearly you as an individual. ...Though I'll say this: he talked rather more than someone in his position needed to, on his way out."

"What do you mean?"

"He was focused on seeing your ability. Not destroying Arden. Not capturing it. If his parting words weren't a feint to buy his exit, that's what it was."

Letaria remembered something. The first time she had encountered Twoin, during the unmanned machine incident -- he had said he was curious to see what kind of battle a special unit pilot would show.

"My read -- and it's instinct -- is that he wasn't lying. The genuine attack on Arden was to draw your real ability out. The clean exit makes the same sense. And then he went out of his way to tell you as much before he left -- a kind of respect for you as a fighter."

"That is a strangely principled way to conduct an ambush."

Milea's candid observation made Grain's mouth pull into a dry half-smile.

"He doesn't feel like military to me. Probably hired, freelance. That field does attract a particular kind of eccentric."

Grain let that word sit with deliberate weight -- and let his gaze drift, with complete and obvious intent, toward Letaria.

"What is it?"

She tilted her head, and then, a beat later, understood exactly what the look meant.

"Excuse me! You are calling ME eccentric!? How rude -- I am simply proper, elegant, and noble, and nothing else whatsoever!"

She crammed the cookie into her mouth indignantly. Milea and Grain looked at each other -- and this time, laughed in proper unison.

"Either way -- there is no way your true nature has been discovered. Don't lose too much sleep over it. ...And if you run into that man again on a battlefield, you can say hello by knocking him into next week."

At Grain's characteristically blunt but oddly reassuring counsel, Letaria's lips curved at last -- the familiar, undaunted smile, bright and a little dangerous, finding its way back to her face.